So what's new about Web Services that makes them different? Well, these services are defined on a set of industry-based standards, which must be conformed to by any vendor in order to make it an approved Web Service. Also, these services use the XML language and the HTTP protocol. Furthermore, the knowledge required to develop such applications is not uncommon and therefore its development will not involve the expenses of extensive training and using the "trial and error" approach. Now that you have a fair idea of what Web Services are, the next section will detail the architecture and components of Web Services, first describing the requirements for talking across different hardware and software components. Figure 22.1 represents the architecture of Web Services. Figure 22.1. Architecture of Web Services.As you can see in the figure, the following components are needed:
All these components should be based on a language that provides the flexibility to define data (like the properties of a system) and that can be understood by any application regardless of the platform or system the application resides on. The languages that fit those component specifications are
The next sections will explore each of these languages in more detail. |